Raven: A Work In Progress
by LindRawr
Summary: Without BumbleBee to lead Titans East they are quickly falling apart. In desperation Robin sends one of his own in as a temporary replacement. But as Raven tries to whip these heroes into shape will she end up succumbing to the same stress of leadership that BumbleBee did or will she prevail and maybe learn a little something about herself with the help of a few boys in tights?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

The swirl of emotion emanating from the living room causes a dull thud to spark in her head as each of her emotions grasped at them, trying to feed off of them to power themselves. She pauses for a moment in the hall trying to separate her emotions from the other. It became over powering at times. She could feel their happiness, joy, and even sadness but not her own. It's the closest she could come to really feeling without abandoning the delicate grasp she had on her emotions. Rage taunted her weakness. Knowledge pointed out the benefits of letting her hold the reigns. Love spoke of unrealistic fantasies. Happy giggled of all the fun they could have. Raven just didn't listen.

She quickly gathered up all her bags and rolled her suitcase behind her as the headed in the direction of the living room. Arrived to see the room dark, Strange, the other titans where awake early and it was nearing ten now. But her musing thought where loudly interrupted by four titans as the lights where flicked on and they jumped out from the hiding places.

A large banner depicting how much they would miss her dangled from the ceiling and Starfire held a large pink cake with wobbling layers in her outstretched arms. BeastBoy had taken the form of a small yapping dog and was jumping around her feet. Cyborg and Robin and were the more mature of the group and stood back slightly but still had broad smiles plastered on their faces.

If their emotions weren't already obviously depicted on her face then the headache the bloomed into a full blown migraine gave it away. They radiated happiness and a twinge of happiness and discontent at having to see her go. She shook her head violently and threw up her hood as her more than eager emotions, feeding after the atmosphere in the room, tried to take over and pushed at her powers. A few nearby lights where incased in black magic and promptly exploded as Raven was forced to expel her powers a bit.

The titans heard the lights burst and tried to keep their smiles from wavering. Robin stepped forward as to take responsibility for the impromptu going away party. Raven held up a hand stalling her attempts.

"It's fine." She said curtly. "Thank You."

BeastBoy took this good news as an opportunity to shift back in his regular form.

" Dude! Seriously? Does this mean you wanna play stankball?!" Beastboy chimed in. Raven wrinkled her nose and Cyborg stepped forward, welding the offending ball.

" Aw Yeah!" Cyborg said. " My little sis is finally learning how to have fun!"

"We don't have time for this" Robin intervened, "the jet the mayor scheduled for Raven is leaving in thirty minutes."

After Control Freak had showing to the public that the Titans East were real and good the crime rate had really escalated in Steel City as villains from all other tried to prove themselves by defeating the new titans. After a while it had become too much for their leader BumbleBee and she stepped down and returned to being just an honorary titan. The new titans were now leaderless and frankly a mess.

As a last resort Robin decided that one of the Titans West needed to temporarily lead the Titans East while he looked for a replacement. Raven had drawn the shortest straw.

"Friend Raven?" Starfire quipped, drawing the girl from her thought.

"Yes, Starfire?" Raven deadpanned.

"I hope you have a most glorious trip and the you do not receive the plane lags" the alien replied warmly.

"Uh, I think you mean jet lag, Star." Cyborg supplied.

"You should bring back gifts, Rae!" BeastBoy suggested.

" Remember Raven, you should get them on a steady training reg-"

"STOP!" Raven roared, her head in her hands, her eyes no doubt a fiery red. The titans immediately stopped trying to talk over each other and took a collective step back, knowing when the dark girl shouldn't be pushed any farther. They watched wearily as she gathered up her belongings and made her ways towards the door. Right as her hand landed on the door knob she turned back around towards the other Titans.

"Cyborg?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah Rae?" he answered nervously.

"….Are you not taking me to the airport?" She questioned, raising a thin eyebrow. "And don't call me that." She concluded her eyes flashing red again for a brief moment before she opened the door and disappeared outside.

"Yeah..sure! Of course Rae..ven" Cyborg shouted after her and he ran out after her.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hey! I'm really excited about writing this so yeah I've already undated a few hours later. I not quite sure about the pairing yet so review and let me know what you think. This is my first fic ever so please don't judge me that harshly and sorry for any typos, I'm a horrible editor. R & R please!

Chapter Two

She looked up at the Titans East Tower. It looked remarkably like the West tower. Raven wouldn't be surprised if the inside was matching two.

Raven didn't even want to think about the ride to the airport and the time she actually spend there. Even the thought of all those emotions gave her a headache. She had spent the five hour flight mediating, hoping to give her an edge in case any of the Eastern Titans are bubbly masses of emotion.

And to think, the day had been going pretty well. She had even almost slipped off the Titan Island before the other titans recovered from her bust of anger and wrapped her up in a group hug. Being the first to snap out of it Starfire was at the center of the hug and managed to get her steel grip wrapped firmly around Raven slight frame and effectively cut off all passage of the air through to her lungs. When Robin noticed the Raven had begun to match her cloak in color her ordered the other titans off of her much to Starfire's chagrin.

Now hours later, she was standing in front of Titans East Tower, the throbbing in her arms where Starfire's had wrapped around having long ago dissipated when her healing abilities unconsciously kicked in.

Before she could raise a hand to knock on the metal door it swung upon unleashing on Raven's ears a verbal fight being condoned somewhere in the tower. The door itself had been opened by Mas y Menos. The two brothers talked about as fast as she knew they could run and Raven definitely didn't know Spanish. The two boys each grabbed one of Raven hands- much to her disagreement- and ushered her in before clasping hands with each other and quickly returning with all of Ravens bags.

Raven looked around contently. She was right, the tower had almost the same set up except that all of the rooms appeared to be assessable by water tunnels most likely for the convenience of the resident water breather, Aqualad.

Who speak- or rather think- of the devil was in an anger fueled argument with Speedy which included many hand motions and much stomping of feet.

Mas y Menos positioned themselves in front of the empath and declared in unison "Raven ha llegado!"

Which Raven assumed was a greeting of sorts. Neither of the boys looked up from their angry banter. Their heated words escalated and Raven slumped against one of the kitchen counters and grasped at the head which had begun the pound painfully. Rage thrived gleefully inside of her. Only Mas y Menos notices as some of the ceiling light began to sway slowly and creak, pointing at the offending lights and whispering to each other. Aqualad and Speedy continued to fight.

"Those passages are for _me_ to get around the tower!" Aqualad raged

"And I respect that." Speedy glared.

"Then why, Poseidon help me, did you use it as a garbage disposal!?" Aqualad bite back.

"The garbage was full." The offender answered calmly.

"Then, oh I don't know…_empty_ it!"

"Oh I did." Speedy relied gleefully.

Aqualad then proceeded to launch himself at the archer growly something that sounded disturbingly like "I hope you can swim". But before his hands could land on the other boy Raven had popped up between them, having phased through the floor and reappeared there. Aqualad jumped back in surprise.

"Oh..uh hey Raven." Aqualad mumbled scrambling away from the scene. She wasn't surpised at his embarrassment. She had never seen the boy to get the anger and violent and it did shock her.

She turned to face Speedy who was now casually leaning up against the wall. But evidence of the squabble was evident in his slightly redden cheeks and mused hair. As if he sensed his less than perfect appearance- or perhaps Raven's unbashful stare- his hand smoothed down his unruly reddish hair. Realizing how long she had been watching the boy she turned away but not before she saw his slow uneven smirk, her cheeks now a twinge red.

She threw up her hood that had fallen to her shoulders at some point and addressed to boys.

"Speedy, Aqualad, Mas y Menos" She spoke clearly, "I assume you know why I'm here."

A touch of sadness entered all the boys' faces as they gathered around her, even Speedy who seem more unaffected then the others, as they recalled BumbleBee's absence. Suddenly she felt a little bad for bringing it up. Speedy snapped out of it quickly and his sly grin was soon on his face again. He slid closer to the dark girl and grabbed her hand and easily curled Raven's fingers out of its naturally formed fist in order to bring the small hand up to his and brush his lips against her knuckles.

He didn't even notice as the hand was slowly wrapped in dark energy that quickly descended on him causing him to fly back past the island in the kitchen that acted at a barrier between the kitchen and living room. At the end of his little trip his was deposited behind a couch. Raven was aiming for the couch seat but heard the boy land roughly on the floor. Oh well.

Besides her the remaining boys erupted in laughter. Aqualad placed a friendly hand on her shoulder. She gently shrugged it off. The boy seemed to understand and didn't push it. Slowly the laughter died down when the titans saw Speedy attempt to stand up, his hand once again traveling directly to his ruffled hair. Normally Raven found such actions to be annoying and shallow but for some reason she found it almost endearing.

"Nice throw, Princess." Speedy praised. Not even a little slightly phased. Never mind Raven thought angrily. He was definitely annoying and shallow. Endearing? What was she even thinking….

"Don't mind him, Raven" Aqualad supplied good-naturedly, "he'll hit on anything with a pulse." Speedy glared in response.

"And don't mind him either," Speedy added, not nearly as good-naturedly, "he'll hit on anything with a fin." Before Aqualad could open his mouth to reply Raven tried to shoot everyone one of her classic icy glares. The always shut them up.

But it didn't, hardly anyone paid to petite empathy any attention as she used her eyes to shoot daggers at them. She stood their confused before she realized that these titans had yet to learn what her anger was capable of, but how to show them, she mused. She didn't really want to make anything explode something. Wasn't chucking that egotistical boy in tights across the room enough? At the moment the only thing she _really _wanted to do was settle in front of a book with a cup of tea. But she couldn't just leave the titans to fend for themselves just so she could act as her normal reclusive self. She had to be a leader. She was beginning to dread this more than she thought she would.

What did Robin do when BeastBoy and Cyborg fight? Well usually a simple warning of threat of extra train hours from the masked leader shut them up. Training, of course! A very small smile of satisfaction settled on the dark girl's face.

Raven throw down her hood and rose to less than impressive height. The quarrel between Speedy and Aqualad was still in progress and Mas y Menos had joined in each choosing a side, there Spanish only adding more confusion to the argument.

"LISTEN UP!" Raven yelled, Rage helping her voice deepening into something raspy and rise over the fight.

The titans' heads snapped up in surprise not suspecting such a commanding voice to come from the quiet empath.

Raven glared at them all struggling to keep her eyes their normal violet as Rage bubbled under the surface, eager for control.

"Training room. _NOW." _The dark girl ordered in the same voice. "If I hear another peep out of any of you you'll be there even longer. " The titans quickly complied, running in the direction of the training room, Raven following quickly at their heels.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Well here another chapter. Hope there are people who are still interested after the first chapter or two. Let me know what you think. Please review!

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans, they are owned by DC Comics and I am already very much (and sadly) aware of this.

Chapter Three

Raven was lead into a dark room in one minute flat. Apparently a little force in your voice can do you wonders. The lights slowly flickered on revealing dusty training room. Equipment that was used and a daily basis at the west tower were still packed away in sealed boxes. The room even _smelled_ unused. Like dried paint and plastic.

She turned and stared accusingly at the four sheepish looking titans.

"Have you even stepped foot in this room?" The dark girl accused. Mas y Menos both looked deep in thought as if seriously trying to remember if they ever had.

"Speedy?" Raven questioned.

"What? Oh um….well I come in here to get more arrows…" The archer reasoned gesturing to a large glass display box holding several dozen arrows.

"Aqualad," Raven asked her usually deadpan starting to sound a bit incredulous, turned towards the boy. "do you guys even every actually train?"

"Well, um, sometimes I swim laps in the pool…" Aqualad mumbled, running his hair through his hair nervously.

This is worse than Raven thought. Her original thought was that they needed someone to help them learn to work together better. But they have never actual tried to learn how to work together. She would have face-palmed if she didn't have a fear that her hand would go all the way through her head and come out the other side.

She quickly searched her mind trying to remember how Robin got us to work together. But she couldn't remember anything. They had always worked together rather well and he only every had to make small adjustments. Guess it's up to me, she thought glumly.

"Ok, so this is how this is going to work," Raven ordered, "I tell you to do something you do it." She immediately earned a brisk nod from Aqualad and smiles from Mas y Menos. She looked over at the last titan who seemed like he wasn't to type to take order nearly as easily. Speedy slowly strolled over and threw an arm casually over the girl's shoulder. He entered her personally space without a second thought. She needed to knock so sense into him quick.

And she meant 'knock' quite literally. She couldn't take another moment with him this close. His smirk and his smell- a smooth cologne she was sure all the dumb girls he chased after loved- might be growing on her but the light weight of his arm dangling over her shoulder was just too much and for some reason she had the urge to lean into his embrace. She mentally shook her head violently, she must be so close to people that she was starting to take on there happy comfortable emotions as her own. She turned and glared at the archer.

"Your wish is my command, Princess." He taunted happily. It took her a moment to remember what he was talking about.

"Rule number one," Raven growled trying to shrug off the boy's warm arm and effectively clear her mind, "don't _touch me."_

"Touchy!" Speedy exclaimed. "Other rather anything but!" he said chuckling at his own joke.

Drawing away from the boy she went to stand in front of the group.

"For the next….two, no, three hours no one is allowed to use their powers." Raven decided. She was met with four exclaiming voices.

"Stop talking, the matter is not up for negotiation." Raven said. She promptly separated Mas y Menos, their complaints that she couldn't understand anyways falling on deaf ears. She then walked over to Speedy and shot him her usual deadpan looked but raised both her ear brows, giving her a decidedly expectant look.

"Oh come on Princess, just let me wear it, pretty please?" He crooned shooting her a look that probably melting other girls.

"Rule number two," she glared, "my name is Raven, only refer to me as such." He pulled his mask off his face and lowered his head dangerously close to hers. His green eyes gleamed mischievously. In attempt to break his gaze which seemed to refuse to let her escape, she shot her foot out quickly, sweeping his knee and leaving sprawling on the floor. There, she thought contently, I hope he enjoys the view from down there.

Mas y Menos cheered on her actions, Aqualad going as far as clapping appreciatively. Speedy was still on the floor looking up at the dark girl, stilling looking rather dazed. But it was only a few more seconds before his eyes recovered the gleam they held a moment ago and his arm grabbed her ankle and pulled it out from under her.

Next thing she knew she was laying, the breath knocked out of her with Speedy at her side. The cement floors were cold but he radiated warm and once again she had to resist the odd desire to move closer to the archer.

Refusing to stay in the boy's company any longer, she leaned back trying to put as much weight on her upper back as possible before throwing her legs and arms up and throwing her weight forward in order to successfully land on her feet and standing right side up. Speedy nodded approvingly before following suit.

"First lesson: How to take a beating." Raven announced.

"If you hadn't noticed," Aqualad pointed out gently, "that's all we've been doing since BumbleBee left."

"Sorta the point you're here." Speedy added grimly.

"I said how to _take _a beating," Raven snapped, "not _get_ a beating."

"The difference?" Speedy snorted.

"Cualquiera que sea la diferencia es, que sin duda no lo sabemos." Mas y Menos supplied sadly.

"I aware that you probably know even more about martial arts than I do, Speedy" Raven admitted, "so help me with these guys if you can." Speedy just flashed a smug smile in response.

She turned to Aqualad and landed a quick roundhouse dead center on his chest. The boy 'oof'-ed and stumbled back a few steps from the impact. Speedy complimented her aim.

"Was that necessary." the boy wheezed. Raven chose to ignore this.

"In a few moments, I will kick you again." Raven revealed, "tighten you stomach muscles and breathe out the moment my foot makes contact with your chest, it won't hurt as much." She kicked again. Although his eyes were still watering his breathing was steadier and he gave her a weak smile.

Raven spent the next hours teaching the guys different ways to, well, take a beating. She was now using her powers- much to Speedy objection "what happen to no powers, Princess?"- to chuck various objects at them after telling them that they could only use their powers if they were helping another member on the team. After having Aqualad nearly crushed by a box of boxing gloves they realized that Raven was dead serious and frankly, rather insulted that they thought otherwise. Which might explain as to who her missiles where suddenly flying faster and more frequently.

About an hour into this Speedy had discarded his shirt which made her aware of another problem. They were always wearing Civvies, did they realize how much time they probably wasted changing into uniform? _Oh shut up, you don't really mind_ chimed Brave. _Look at his abs! Yum! _Love agreed. _Abs? How dare he walk around in such indecency! _Rage argued. **STOP!** Taking back control of her mind, Raven silenced to noisy emotions. Emotions are soo messy, and always conflicting, Raven thought, remembering what the monks had taught her.

The girl removed herself from her thoughts and looked up. The other titans where looking at her strangely. She then realized she had stopped her constant flow of missiles and a few of the boxes that she had flung earlier had burst open, spraying their contents all through the training room.

"You may leave now," Raven deadpanned, "this training session is over." Her voice came out a little icier that meant. Oh well.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Thanks to anyone still reading this. I tried a chapter in Speedy's POV so let me know what you think (OOC?) and please review! I'd love anyones feedback. Even if it's to tell me I'm slowly digging a grave for this plot line. R & R!

Disclaimer: Wait what? It's been four chapter and this girl still doesn't own Teen Titians? I sense some weird kinda pattern forming…

Chapter Four

Speedy's POW:

Speedy ran into the kitchen, laughing madly. Fishboy was chasing after him spewing out breathless curses and something about that ocean guy that carries around a pitch fork. He never really understood him, why would you need a pitch fork in the _ocean? _He was so caught up this that he almost run into Raven.

She was leaning against the kitchen island. At first glance you would think she was pretty at ease. Hood down and letting something else support her weight. But Speedy had gotten good at reading the emotionless girl in the short time she has been at the tower. Which was weird, Speedy usually isn't the observant type. He looked at the girl and all he noticed was how her knuckles were so white as she firmly clasped the counter top, and the fierce scowl that was settling on top of her usually blank expression.

Weird, why was she getting mad? It took him a moment to realize her purple gaze was set on him. He was standing closer to her, considering he had almost plowed into her. And she doesn't like being touched. He could feel the corners of his mouth draw up and he took a step closer. All in the pursuit of annoying others, he thought gleefully.

He was quite close to her now. He was actually rather surprised she had moved or yelled at him. He was so close he could reach out and touch her pale cheek without even straightening his elbow…wait….What?!

Had he been in the presence of three guys without even BumbleBee to hit on that _Raven _seemed like a viable option? Sure she was really pretty, but she was also _Raven,_ the very same Raven who took his teasing even worse than Fishboy, and seemed to chuck more stuff at him earlier during the training sesh. Heck, she was even looking at him when she made those boxes explode! He seriously needed to get out more.

Usually after the team won a battle he went off with one of the hot fan girls that gathered around to watch to cops take the villains to the prison. But with BumbleBee gone there was a serious lack of won battles, he seriously never though they depended so much on her.

And Speedy didn't even had time to prepare, no one did. She just freaked out one day. Saying stuff about how hard this leadership stuff was and she didn't want to babysit us anymore. It was almost weird; BumbleBee never seemed the quitting type….

He quickly dismissed the thought. He was being ridiculous. Besides, he didn't really wanna think about it. He and the others really did miss the girl. With her around he had more stuff to do and didn't spend nearly as much time harassing the resident water breather. The water breather...Aqualad!

Remember who he was running from he pulled himself away from his thoughts. Fishboy was now positioned in front of him and Raven. Realizing he had probably been staring at Raven mid thought he turned back to her, wondering if she had noticed. She had. But she didn't look mad. In fact, she had a really weird look on her face. As her continued to stare at her a dark blush bloomed across her cheek bones. The red blush was probably the brightest thing he'd ever see on her, he mused.

Weird. She hadn't even moved away. She was so close that he could smell her, she smelled vaguely of dark cherries and tea leaves. In fact, he couldn't be certain but he thought she might have moved a little closer. Her wide violet eyes widened slightly and she seemed to realize that at the same time a stumbled away.

He couldn't help but smirk, stumbling seemed so unRaven. She answered his look with a glare and he struggled to contain another smirk. If one didn't know of Raven powers she would seem like the average defenseless girl and the glare that promised pain would be laughable. His musing where interrupted when Fishboy's voice raised yet another octave.

The shrimp was in mid panic attack, wildly gesturing to his hair in disgust. He wrinkled his nose, his prank wasn't meant to smell this bad.

"What is that horrible smell?" Raven asked nose wrinkling.

"Ah, you like?" Speedy smirked, "I replaced Fishboy's hair gel with fish oil."

Raven cast him an exasperated look that had trances of disappointment in it. Huh. He almost felt bad.

Aqualad hadn't paused his freaked ramblings apparently not even noticing that no one was really paying attention.

"What?" Speedy asked in mock sincerity, "All his hair gel in probably polluting the ocean! I obviously have more compassion for our under water friends then fish-for-brains does!"

"Excuse me! If you hadn't noticed you replaced my hair gel with _fish oil!_" Aqualad shouted, "Do you even know where fish oil comes from!?" Seriously, Speedy thought, he chooses now to start to listen?

"ENOUGH." Raven commanded. At some point during the argument her hood had returned to her head and even though it cast a shadow Speedy could see he her eyes as they began to glow a dull red.

Both boys immediately fell silent.

"You take a shower, you reek." Raven order looking at Aqualad. He complied but muttered about Speedy's wrongdoings and he headed out.

" And _you" _he heard a sneer in her voice as she stomped over to him, "what is your problem? You're not twelve."

"Oh I think we are both very aware that I'm older than that." Speedy replied coolly and flickered down her hood to reveal the dark blush his statement caused. He heard a light bulb explode somewhere in the room. This was just too easy.

"Douche." Raven growled.

She then used her powers to return her hood than spun on her heels and walked through the wall into the living room. Show-off. Using the door like a normal person he trailed in after her. She was sitting or rather levitating over the couch, eyes closed and it didn't seem like she was planning on opening them anytime soon. It was then that he noticed that she was wearing sweat pants. She was still wearing her leotard and cloak but had a pair of baggy black sweats covering her legs. She had them rolled up a few times around the waist instead of at the legs.

Weirder even? He thought she looked nice. The girl puts on more clothes and he thought she looked nice. Usually it was the other away around with girls. Yep, he definitely needed to get out more.

"Hey Rae?" He asked. The girl raised an eyebrow in response. "The rooms are set up like the ones at the west tower. Your room should been in the exact same place and your names on the door. Mas y Menos already brought you bags there." He continued before exited the way he came in. He wasn't sure but he thought he might have heard her whisper a thanks.

Xxxxxxxxxx

A/N: Well, what do you think totally horrible or not? I'm not sure if I should keep on do his POV or not…

Review and let me know what you think.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Well here goes nothing. Review? Pretty please!

Disclaimer: Of course I don't own Teen Titans, why do you wanna keep on pointing out this sad reality?

Chapter Five

**Raven's POV**

Raven meditated in the living room for a while after that. She breathed out her mantra so quiet that someone sitting beside her would have to strain to hear her. She had been around Speedy's cocky arrogance, Aqualad's annoyance at said cocky arrogance, and Mas y Meno's general hype for too long. Usually she could avoid other's more strenuous emotion by retreating to her room, but she was supposed to lead these people so that wasn't really an option.

Luckily, Speedy finally took a cue to leave. There was no way she could meditate with him around. But she couldn't help but feel a little sad that the archer didn't even try to get her to do something with him instead. But that's probably just because she was used to BeastBoy's constant pleas to play video games with him….right?

She didn't get much time to think about it because that's when the alarms went off. Seriously? Looking over at the clock she saw it was seven pm. Why can't people wait till morning to commit crimes? She walked over to the super computer that was identical to titan's west. It showed the streets and a pulsing red light which she assumed was the crime location. Probably. She never actually really usually the computer. Robin usually shouts out the villain and the location.

She spun around and found the other titans behind her and ready. They may get their butts kicked but at least they are quick

"Let's go." She said and nodded in the direction of the door. She let them lead the way out so she had time to step out of her sweat pants first. When she looked up Speedy had turned around and was giving her a strange look. What? He had seen her with just her leotard and cape on. In fact, he's definitely seen more of her like that. She only put the sweats on over in the first place because she was cold.

She glared at the archer and he shook his head before turning around and continuing on his way out.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Speedy's POV**

He really hopes that training with Raven helps. He doesn't think he can handle another crushed defeat. It does a bad number and a guy's ego. And he liked to keep his inflated to a certain degree.

Luckily, he had caught a glimpse of the computer screen; Raven looked a little confused about where to go. Which was rather amusing. For a girl that always looks so certain, it's a real refresher to see a different emotion on her face. So he momentarily took charge and led the group to one of the less than favorable neighborhoods in Steel City. Although not a good place to buy a hotdog from a street vendor-he learned that the hard way-it did have a nice clubbing scene. But at the moment it was empty. There weren't even cars on the street.

"The crime in this place is staggering." Raven grumbled sarcastically.

"Are you sure you read the map right?" Aqualad accused.

"Of course I did!" Speedy argued. He was about to retaliate to Fishboy's next accusation when he notice that the twins were trying to get their attention.

"Detrás de nosotros!" The boys chanted. He looked in the direction they were pointing. There was a man in a long trench coat in an alley standing half way in the shadows. Trying to be as discreet as he could be he nudge Raven and Fishboy and looked slyly over at the man. They understood and nodded in understanding. But before we could even work out a plan the man had appeared in the middle of the circle we formed. We all jumped back in response. He slowly lifted his head. He couldn't have been older than twenty.

"Ah, the Teen Titans!" The guy exclaimed, "So exciting!"

"Wait…you're the bad guy?" Speedy asked. The man nodded vigorously. "….But you're just some guy! Couldn't they have just called the police?" Speedy complained. The man seemed to find this extremely funny. He had collapsed in a deranged fit of laughter and was pounding the ground with his fist in amusement. Great, he's also a nutcase.

"…uh so you're a crazy guy?" Speedy inquired nervously. He noticed that he was the closest titan to the guy. The others had backed up a considerable amount. Thinking about following suit he looked down at the man. He had begun to…smoke? Waves of grey gas flowed off the guy and it became harder and harder to see the shape of him inside the cloud of smoke. Suddenly something dark that might had once been an appendage shot out and grabbed his ankle.

Before he could be yanked down he was incased in black energy and pulled back towards the other titans. He nodded a thanks towards Raven who almost looked worried. Worried? Raven? He must be imagining things. Maybe there's something in the guy's smoke that makes you see things, he mused.

We all turned out attention towards the guy who now looked like he gotten about two feet taller and was at least as wide as three men and was still incased in grey smoke. He held up has hand and pointed his palm at Raven. A considerably chunk of the grey stuff flew off his hand and arm and launched at the girl, wrapping around her like boa constrictor as if suddenly taking on a more solid state. Speedy stared jaw hanging open at the struggling girl. Before he could even react a fire hydrant exploded behind him and Fishboy shot a column of water at Raven. Just before the water hit her the grey matter detached and returned to its leader's arm. Luckily Fishboy redirected the spray of water before it hit the girl anyways. Speedy imagined that Ravens agreement with water would be close to that of a cat.

Raven quickly jumped to her feet, looking no worse for the wear. For some reason it irked him that had been Aqualad and not him that had saved the dark girl. Ok, yup, he _really _needed to get out more.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Raven's POV**

She refused to admit it but she rather embarrassed at been taken down so easily. She probably could have easily used her powers to remove his grip. But she panicked. Having that grey cloud, seemingly so intangible solidify and wrap around her reminded too much of one of Starfire's bone-crushing hug. But ten times worse. Instead of giddy happy feelings she was embraced in the dark loneliness of a mind tainted with insanity. The feeling was suffocating. Inside of her Rage rejoiced.

Still a little shake, although of course not showing it, she watch at Speedy scaled the side of a two story building. The man in smoke, otherwise occupied (trying to shot more of his clouds of smoke at Mas y Menos who proved fast enough to avoid them), didn't notice his climb. From his perch Speedy pulled arrows with little black bags at the point and aimed them at the man. He fired a couple and Raven watched as the black bag burst right before impact showering the man with bright sparks meant to blind him. The man didn't even seem fazed.

She then turned towards Aqualad and his plight. He was siphoning a large wave of water from the fire hydrant and added it to a large ball he had already positioned above the gray man. Smart. He had pulled back his smoke earlier when Aqualad had tried to shot it was a column of water. He already had enough water above his head to fill a small pool. A drop of the water fell and hit the man as his control wavered. The man looked up. That's when the rest of the water came crashing down on his head.

The grey smoke hit the ground when it mixed with the water, leaving the now normal size man shivering in a puddle of grey water. He fell to his hands and knees shaking violently. The titans slowly gather around him. Speedy, which Raven found quite impressive, climbed half way down the building before jumping the rest of the way.

The titans were almost close enough to contain the man when he suddenly stood up. No longer shivering, but actually looking pretty confident.

"Fools!" He laughed. "No one can defeat the Darkness!" They watched in amazed horror as the grey puddle at his feet began to boil and dry leaving only his grey shadow, which quickly coated him again and returned him to his previous stature. Before any of the titans could react he shot out five of his clouds of smoke that glued each of the titans to the ground.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Speedy's POV

His head hit the pavement with a loud thud. Groaning, he tried using his hand to rub the injury before remembering his current predicament. Great. This is all Fishboy's fault, he just had to dump water on him and get the thing mad. As he wiggled the grey binds tightened. Ok, not a good idea. It was then that he noticed an almost animalistic hissing and snarling noise to his left. He turned his head slowly and was relieved to find that it was just an enraged Raven. Ok, that might have been the understatement of the year.

The dark girl stopped thrashing and sunk through the ground and reappeared the in front of the man and the grey matter that was holding her evaporating, no longer having anything to hold on to. She waved her hand dismissively behind her at us and the grey matter confining us was pulled off and evaporated mid-air. I quickly scrambled to my feet and saw the twins and Aqualad doing the same in the corner of my eyes.

But no one approached Raven who was having some kinda stand-off with the man. Even with her facing away from Speedy he knew that she had sprouted another pair of red eyes. Slowly she grew in height as her cloak billowed out. Dark tendrals of black energy curled around her putting the man's smoke to shame.

"You aren't darkness. You are merely a _shadow._ _I am Darkness._" The dark girl rasped darkly. She drew the now shivering man deep into her billowing cloak into an….embrace? Before he could rub his eyes to check if he was seeing this correctly she threw him back out. Now a small man curled up in ball, eyes stretched wide in horror, mumbling to himself all the while.

She abruptly turned around for a split second they saw what the man must have seen before she collapsed on the ground. A small sadistic small emphasized by the shadows her hood cast on her face, four, red, glowing eyes, too much like slits to be human, and a cloak that was slightly opened to reveal only the blackest darkness within it.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A/N: Well, what do you think? Sorry if my fight scenes suck! I tried I swear! Please review and let me know what you think. R & R


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Had a bit o' writers block (which only means a couple hours for me) for this chapter so sorry if it sucks.** Please review** and let me know what you think!

**Disclaimer:** I own many things, like a disturbing amount of books and broken ear buds. Sadly Teen Titans are not included in the category of things that are mine. They will forever be categorized as things I want but will never have, alongside unicorns, naturally.

Chapter Six

**Raven's POV**

She fell to her knees and buried her head in her hands. Not caring that the hard pavement bit into her knees. Anything to escape the looks of horror she was certain the other titan's had on their faces. She was so embarrassed. How could she be so stupid? She could have killed them all! It shouldn't be so hard for her to control her powers! All the other titans are fine. They had it so _easy. _And frankly, Raven was jealous. It's all because of my stupid emotions, she thought bitterly.

She had gotten mad. Quite mad. Rage had pushed through her mental boundaries and for a moment she felt the dread of never being able to take back control…

But she had. And now she had to face the titans and shame of how out of control she had been. That's _if_ they ever even want to have anything to do with her anymore. She felt something wet and warm roll down her cheek. She reached up to brush the offending display of emotion away but another hand beat hers to it.

She looked up to a pair of green eyes that for the first time held nothing of their owner's regular arrogant confidence. In fact, the seemed more surprised at the dark girl's blatant display of emotion then maybe even her.

"I definitely want you to show more emotion, princess," Speedy murmured, "but this isn't what I meant."

With him so close Raven had started to hold her breath. By the time she realized this she was out of breath and had to gulp in a couple lungs full of air. So basically she seemed pretty flustered. Speedy noticed her breathlessness and smirked and instantly a bright blush settling across the girl's face. Being this close to the archer wasn't helping the dark girl's composure.

And he still hadn't moved. His hand was even still resting on her cheek. She was very aware of the warm, rough pads of his callused fingers. Probably from all the archery, the girl mused. Well if he wasn't going to move them she was. Oddly, it took her a bit to build up the will power to _want_ to move. I'm probably just tired or something like that, Raven though dismissively.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Speedy's POV**

Raven drew back from his hand slowly, looking rather adorably dazed. Do those words even make sense together? And describing Raven of all people? Yeah, he reasoned, there definitely must have been something in that guy's grey smoke clouds…

Behind him Fishboy was trying to use a pay phone to contact the police so they could take the smoke guy in and Mas y Menos where darting back in forth around buildings cheering and celebrating our victory. The only titan that seemed down was Raven. And he couldn't comprehend why; she was the one that finished off the nutcase.

Had it been him, he would have been gloating by now. To each his own, he though mournfully of the valuable opportunity wasted.

After everything was sorted through with police the titans gathered in a circle, but with Raven hanging back a bit.

"So what are we doing to celebrate?" The archer asked excitedly.

"Pizza?" Aqualad suggested. The twins nodded in agreement.

"I-I think I'm just gonna go back to the tower. Have fun." Raven deadpanned, not quite meeting anyone's eyes.

"What?!" Speedy exclaimed, "You're not serious, right? You'll miss all the fun, princess."

"Did I stutter?" The girl snapped.

"Well you actually sorta did." The archer replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. Instantly the dark girl's eyes flashed with anger but the ire quickly drained leaving the girl looking rather embarrassed as her face flushed. Raven not rejoicing in her unjustified anger? Strange.

Before he could even comment Raven spun around and sunk through the ground, presumably transporting herself back to the tower.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

By the time the remaining titans reached the pizza place news of their victory had spread. Fangirls filled the place; no dubitably happy their heroes were once again rising to the challenge. Fishboy managed to find a table and the titans sat down and put in their orders. The table had more seats than there were titans and some of their more brave fans helped themselves to a seat.

A girl with red hair that definitely came from a bottle, slid into the seat across from Speedy. Plastered on her face was an obvious smile face. For some reason the archer was thrown off a bit by the obvious show of emotion. He had definitely been spending too much time around Raven.

"Hey," She whispered seductively, sliding her hand across the table and brushing Speedy's. "I just wanted to personally thank you on behalf of the citizens of Steel City." For some reason he had trouble not recoiling from the girls touched. It had been awhile since he had been around someone who liked touching.

"No problem. It's our job." He replied, trying his best not to sound curt.

"Oh but I bet they wouldn't have been able to do it without your help." She deduced, still smiling brightly.

"Actually it was really Raven that saved the day," He answered honestly, "we couldn't have been able to do it without her."

"_Raven_?" The girl enunciated, her lip curling in jealousy unattractively.

"Yeah, you know, the visiting titan from west tower?" Speedy supplied, confused as to why she would appear so jealous and kinda annoyed she showed it so obviously.

"Oh." She answered, clearly wanting to drop the subject. But Speedy was kinda irked at her easy dismissal of the girl.

"Yeah, her powers are pretty cool and she's a great leader." The archer pointed out.

"Hmm?" She murmured and looked up at him with a look that only could be described as sultry. Oddly, Speedy had the inexplicable desire to laugh at the girl's exaggerated expression. So he gave into the desire and burst into laughter.

The girl flushed with embarrassment and drew back the hand she had so casually placed on his arm before jumping out of the seat and pushing through the crowd that still surrounded the titan's table.

Not feeling the slightest inkling of regret of losing the girl he turned towards the other titans. Aqualad and the twins were giving him a rather strange look.

"Whaddaya do that for?" Aqualad asked skeptically, "She's probably off crying somewhere." He shrugged nonchalantly. It was then that Fishboy's skeptical expression turned a bit sly.

"I'm actually surprised she didn't ditch you sooner…" He trailed off. Speedy turned to look the titan fully in the eyes, trying to figure out his angle.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He demanded, glaring at the boy.

"Not all girls find you more desirably if you try to make them jealous…" He answered cryptically.

"Huh?" Speedy asked, dumbfound.

"It just that you _really_ testified Raven's importance…" He said off-handedly.

"Well, yeah, we couldn't have done it without her." Speedy reasoned.

"It sounded like more to me, I guess." Fishboy replied nonchalantly, turning his attention to the pizza a waitress had just set down on their table.

"Definitivamente sonaba más!" Mas y Menos chimed in agreement. What? Speedy didn't like Raven like that. He liked girls that were more open about their emotions and weren't so reclusive, like that girl. But he didn't like that girl. Not one bit. Her open emotions left nothing to the imagination; it was just too easy to know what was on her mind. There was no mystery and she just seemed plain boring. Odd. It must have been her hair, he reasoned. He hated fakeness, and her hair color was most decidedly not natural. He liked real people. Like Raven, she never tried to be something she wasn't and…wait what?

He seriously needed to get out more. Turning towards the girl that had taken the other girl's seat, he tried his best to find her captivating.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Raven's POV

"When are they getting back?" Raven asked herself plaintively. Oddly enough she had found herself missing the company of others. Of course they probably wanted to get away from her and her bursts of uncontrollable anger for as long as possible…..

"Yah know, talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity," Speedy teased as him and the remaining titans chose that exact moment to burst through the doors, "I starting to get a bit worried about you, princess."

Their sudden entrance made her jump and she spilled a bit of her hot tea on her lap, but still she found it difficult to contain her small smile. She quickly forced it into a small frown, not wanting to risk seeming out of character and even more emotional unstable. Damage control time, maybe she could turn their fear of her into respect?

"Well you guys need as much sleep as possible." She said curtly, "We're all waking up early for a five am training session." Four jaws dropped open.

"Even after our victory today?" Aqualad asked incredulously

"No es justo! No es justo!" The twins chanted.

"Don't act so proud." The dark girl chided. "We are heroes so we must act humble and today was way too close of a call." Aqualad and the twins nodded glumly in submission but grumbled dejectedly on their way out of the living room. Speedy remained there, jaw still unhinged.

"No way, princess, no way!" He argued. "I don't do morning calls, I need my beauty sleep."

"If your 'beauty sleep' regimen hasn't worked yet, I would suggest giving it up at some point." Raven glared.

"Ha ha," he replied sarcastically, "what's the big idea anyways? It all worked out in the end with the help of your red eyes routine!" he justified. Obviously he said the wrong thing because an anger greater than the one they had all saw earlier enveloped the girl. Only this time it was tinged with hurt. He had a bad feeling he was about to meet Raven's angry _and_ hurt wrath.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXx

A/N: Mwahhhahahah! Cliff-hanger! Sorta…. But hey,,,maybe if you review I'd more inclined to update sooner, I might even leave Speedy in one piece! Yup, I am definitely trying to blackmail you. **R & R!**


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: This is the longest chapter I've written so far, (which is still only like 2,200 words, yes I know, I am pathetic) and I did so as an apology for not updating for a couple days. But while we're on the subject which would you prefer, short updates every day/every other day or longer updates every couple days? You'll notice that most of this is in Raven's Pov. I even drank a cup of tea to get in the mood and I made her drink the same kinda tea as me :P. So anyways here you go. Sorry for typos and **PLEASE REVIEW!**

Disclaimer: You're not a bright one are you? Well, as long as I'm on the subject. I don't own Teen Titans.

Chapter Seven

**Speedy's POV**

"DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED?!" Raven roared.

"I-I'm g-gonna go with n-no..." Speedy choked out. Her anger was becoming more and more tangible as her ire polluted the air. He might be smothered by it before she could even lay a finger on him. That at this point seemed like serious hopeful thinking.

She advanced in an almost animalistic crouch; her hands sprawled out as if tensing to grab the offending titan. Speedy backed up quickly, not wanting to turn his back to the dark girl. His efforts were in vain for he soon caught his leg on the edge of the coffee table and crashed down in front of the couch. He was tempted to close his eyes as the Raven made her way slowly and deliberately over to the trapped archer.

But about a foot away she slipped out of her crouch and raised herself to her full height. Which he had to admit, seemed much more impressive with him on the ground. Slowly everything in the room was enveloped in the girl's dark energy. Finally he gave into his fears and closed his eyes, waiting for everything to come crashed onto him. But all he heard was Raven's heavy breathing. That soon began to sound in uneven gasps and….cries?

He opened his eyes to find a girl that was starting to look more distraught than angry. Sparkling diamonds trailed down her face and if Speedy wasn't praying for his life he would have felt pretty awkward at this point. He knew nothing of how to comfort the distraught girl.

"I lost control," she whispered dejectedly, "I could have succumbed to Rage and killed us all. I was weak."

"Well you didn't. And no one here is judging you harshly." Speedy reassured, jumping on any chance to cheer the girl up. Or just calm her down, he would definitely settle for that.

He fought the urged to hug the girl, or offer some sort of comfort. He usually only hugged girls when there was something in it for him like the usual case, not to get his shoulder covered in tears. He really didn't want her or anyone to start thinking otherwise. But it was getting awful hard to watch as the Raven stood there sobbing silently. He did have heart after all. He stood up and pulled the girl into an awkward embrace. Her dark cherry and tea smell bombarded his senses for only a moment before she pulled away.

"How can you stand to be so close to me? I'm a danger to everyone close to me. I don't even deserve to call myself a teen titan. I'm a ticking time bomb, who knows when I'm going to explode." The girl asked, looking honestly confused.

"Raven. Snap out of it. I'm not having another one of my leaders start to doubt themself. You've done nothing but proven yourself today. You've proved that you can control your powers when you teammate's lives are on the stake even if you think you can't." Speedy argued, "Now can we end this? If any one hears of the sappy words I just said it'll really hurt my rep." he added half-heartily. He really wanted the mood lifted soon. He couldn't take any more heart to hearts.

"Y-your right." Raven reasoned, "I'm just embarrassing myself and wasting your time." He suddenly felt rather bad for asking her to rush.

He really didn't want a repeat with what happened with BumbleBee. Maybe if the team and himself had been more attentive towards their leader she wouldn't have snapped and up and left like she did. Plus he rather liked having the empath around. She was a real refresher after having to spend so much time around the twins and Fishboy.

During his speech, the dark girl had actually been able to compose herself pretty well considering she had been sobbing a moment ago and trying to kill him a few before that.

"I'm sorry for making a fool of myself and for, um, trying to kill you." She apologized sheepishly.

"Trying to annoying a half demon is all in a day's work, princess." He replied, flashing her one of his infamous smirks.

"But seriously, if you tell anyone about this I will send you to a dimension where women don't even exist." She vowed solemnly.

"A simply 'thank you for not saying anything' would have sufficed" Speedy answered in mock sweetness, but gulped nervously nonetheless. Raven chose to ignore this.

"And if you think this means I'm now an emotional sap, you wrong." She clarified, "This was a one time lapse in control that won't be repeated."

"Duly noted, princess." Speedy added flippantly.

"Go to hell." Raven deadpanned before calmly walking out of the room.

Well, she's back, Speedy thought happily.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Raven's POV **

I guess I should be glad he's so ignorant, she thought. She doubted he truly understood the extent to which she puts their lives on danger when she got angry.

As she walked down the hall, she realized Speedy was true to his word when she saw the room set up was identical to the west tower. She stopped in front of the door that had her name written on it and enter her code into the key pad. The door slid open soundlessly and Raven walked in. She was kind of flattered that they bothered to have her name carved on the door when they knew she wouldn't be here forever.

She room itself suited her perfectly. Everything was in dark, warm colors. The color scheme was purple and red. She honestly didn't know those colors could look so good together. The entire wall behind the bed was a glass window but was covered by crimson red curtains that where long enough that they pooled on the ground a bit. There was a plush, sofa that matched the drapes in the corner and had tall bookshelves on each side. The deep blue walls matched the carpet that was so soft her feet practically sunk into it.

She was suddenly hit with a sensation of languor as she trudged forward and few feet before collapsing on the bed. The mattress under the silky sheets instantly conformed to her shape. She couldn't have contained her soft sigh of satisfaction if she tried. Before she could even get under the comforter her eyelid began to droop. Giving up she let her eyes shut as she still lay on top of the all the blankets.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next morning Raven's internal clock work her up at 3:45 AM, still as reliable as always. At least that hasn't changed, she though irritably. She decided she regretting ordering the morning training session. The mornings were 'Raven Time'. If any of the titan back at the west tower heard of her willingly spending it with others they wouldn't believe a word of it.

She rolled out of bed and for the first time in her life, looked back longingly at the bed. But she quickly dismissed the thought and left the room in search of tea. She had been ransacking the cupboards for fifteen minutes when a sleepy Aqualad clad in a dark blue robe over pajama pants and a t-shirt shuffled in slowly. Had I been that loud, she though sheepishly. He pointed, bleary eyed, to the one cupboard she hadn't looked in. She opened it to find and extensive supply of tea that came second only to the one had had back home.

She turned back the Aqualad questioningly.

"Robin told us that tea would help keep you sane with around Speedy" Aqualad answered. "So I went to the store and bought ten of everything they had." He then turned around headed back in the direction of his room.

"Sorry I woke you." Raven called after his retreating form.

"S'ok" He mumbled, waving his had dismissively behind him at her.

Turning back to the cupboard Raven scanned the selection before settling for a White Chai and Samurai Chai Mate tea mix. Within ten minutes she was seated at the table and allowing the steam off her mug curl around her face. After finishing off her tea she made her way up to the roof to spend the rest of the time before the training session meditating.

At exactly five she stepped into the training room. Only the twins and Aqualad were present. Before waiting for any explanation she stormed off in the direction of the room that was labeled Speedy. She held her hand up and used her powers to disabled the key pad and caused the door to slide open. She marched into the red and black room. In the middle of the bed was lump that hadn't moved an inch. The orange- red haired head the poked out made it obvious that it was Speedy.

"Speedy" Raven growled lowly. He didn't move. She pulled back his comforter and revealed his sleeping form. He was laying spread eagle and was wearing green pajama bottoms that rivaled the color of his eyes and a black wife beater that made her muscular arms undeniably noticeable. Suddenly the dark girl left a little embarrassed at having charged into the sleeping boy's room. Refusing to let her tell-tale crimson blush settle on her face she turned her thoughts to her current predicament. Although he was arguably less annoying asleep she was still mad at him.

She reached forward an arm preparing to shake wake the archer when a much more favorable way of waking the boy came to mind.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Five minutes later a deceivingly calm Raven strolled into the training room. The boys eyed her wearily before taking note that a Speedy levitating in black energy was following a few paces behind her. Even more alarming was that her appeared to still be asleep and clutching a…..pink bear? Unable to control their laughter they covered their mouths, not wanting to wake the boy.

"Well, know that we're all here." Raven began calmly. "Who wants to be the target for our target practice, NOT IT!"

"NOT IT!"

"NO ÉL! NO ÉL!"

"Well I guess that just leaves you, Speedy" Raven spoke calmly in the direction of the titan's still slumbering form. She levitated the boy over to a person sized target and used her powers to keep him upright.

"Who's first?" the dark girl asked, cocking an eyebrow in the direction of the remaining titans. Aqualad's hand shot up and Raven nodded in the direction of the Speedy. The boy pulled a sizable amount of water out of a nearby tank and positioned it in front of himself.

"This is for swapping my hair gel with fish oil!" Aqualad glared. Then with the straightening of his bent arm he shot the mass of water in the direction of the boy. The spray of water hit him dead center and Raven released him and he fell forward and hit the ground, definitely awake now, and gasping in a puddle of water.

"Wahh?" He gasped groggily. He shook out his short red hair like a dog (to which Raven in response stepped back to narrowly avoid the spray of water before flipping him the bird) and squinted up at the titans. Who at this point could no longer contain their laughter and were doubled over in as they were repeatedly hit with waves of amusement. "Why am I all wet…? I didn't-wait why am I in the training room?" His confused questions only fueled the flames of his friend's laughter. Even Raven had cracked a miniscule smile.

Looking down he noticed a pink bear in his arms. He quickly dropped the offending bear and scooting away from it hoping to get rid of the evidence. But this hadn't been done with nearly as much slyness as Speedy thought and his friends only laughed harder.

"No wonder you sleep in so much," Aqualad joked, "you won't want to leave a bear that fine alone for too long!" At that point everyone sobered up and cast Aqualad disappointed looks. Raven wasn't much for jokes but that one was so bad he must have gotten it from BeastBoy.

"Fue retraso completo" Mas commented.

"Nunca vayas retraso completo." Menos nodded in agreement. At this point Aqualad was looking pretty sheepish and rubbing the back of his neck.

"Ookay then, well now that everyone is fully aware, or at least as much as they'll ever be," Raven added shooting a glare in the direction of a still confused and sputtering Speedy. "We'll begin."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A/N: Well what do you think? Click the review button and let me know, please!


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: I listened to my reviewers and here you go; the longest chapter so far. I tried to keep everybody in character but I'm pretty sure a slipped a bit. I couldn't help it, I swear, I'm doing Raven a favor, she needs to have more fun. Please review it makes me very very very happy! And thanks to anybody and everybody that had reviewed. I just passed 1,000 views! I'm not sure if that actually a big deal or not but  
it made me feel special, so yeah. Once again sorry for typos and R & R.

Disclaimer: Seriously guys? You're killing me here! I'm tired of trying to offer pathetic excuses for comical relief via disclaimer. I do not own Teen Titans.

Chapter Eight

Talk about a rude awakening. Too bad for Raven, she doesn't know what she just started. One does not simply prank without expecting retaliation. And Speedy definitely liked getting the last word. His thought immediately turned towards planning his revenge. He didn't even realize that everyone's attention was turned on him. Fishboy and the twins look apprehensive but Raven was almost smirking.

"Uh what?" He sputtered. Ugh. He was sounding dazed again and mumbling idiot didn't look good on him.

"Well if you were listening," Raven glared, "I was saying you guys should really learn to appreciate each other better. Starting with you Speedy, everyone is going to try out archery. Maybe then your teammates will be able to appreciate you better."

"Finally! The ancient art of archery and your resident handsome and talented archer will get the spotlight they deserve!" Speedy agreed. "Before you can fire any arrows I need to find out which eye you should use. Everybody gave him a weird look but he quickly went through the room and had them close each eye and look at the hand he held up to figure out which eye gave them the more accurate straight line. Everybody would shoot with their right eye dominant but Raven, like him. _Of course_ she was among the minority.

He went and pulled out a rack of bows he had in the corner. He then positioned them all in front of targets-much to Mas y Menos disagreement at being separated- and stood behind them and called them to his attention.

"First rule about bows. Never pull back the string unless you have an arrow notched. You can break the bow that way." He explained. Pulling an arrow from his sheath he held it up for everyone to see. "These little fins on the end are the fletching. When you shoot the arrow wake sure the flat side is closed to the bow so they aren't ripped off when you shoot. Come over here and I hand out the bows."

Raven was the first one to glide over. The others seemed a little nervous.

"I'm gonna give you a fifteen pound one to start off. Don't want you to hurt yourself, princess." He smirked. She glared but accepted the bow he handed her. She looked a little surprised.

"This doesn't feel like fifteen pounds." she asked, look adorably confused. He couldn't help it he laughed. She was looking less confused and more pissed at this point so he decided he should speak up.

"The bow isn't fifteen pounds. That's just how hard it is to pull the string back." He was trying to sound reassuring but it sounded more cocky. Oh well.

"How many pounds is the bow you use?" She inquired.

"Well the string acts like a rubber band so the harder it is to pull the faster and farther the arrow will shoot but trying to pull back a really stiff string can slow me down quite a bit so I usually only have it tightened to about forty pounds." He explained. Her lips parted slightly and he knew for Raven that was equivalent to a dropped jaw response from a regular person. He smiled brightly and noticing his amusement the dark girl quickly closed her mouth.

"Oh and here," reaching into a bag on the side of bow rack and pulled out an arm guard. "Don't want you to get hurt." Before she could argue he snatched up her hand and slipped the black glove and cuff like garment over her hand and forearm. He probably held her small hand longer than needed but she was so warm and soft that he couldn't help it. She gently pulled her hand back and threw her hood up, but not before he noticed the dark blush that erupted on her cheeks. That made him oddly happy.

Back to business he pointed her in the direction of a target and she nodded mutely before heading over there. After he had given everybody a bow and arm guard he went and stood in front of the middle target that everybody could easily see him from. He explained how to stand, shoulder back, chest out and were to put your hands. He carefully notched an arrow and showed everybody how to aim. He they released the projectile and watched as it hit his target's bulls eye. He let his hand remain were had it had been when he released -the corner of his mouth- until after his arrow hit the target. You do this so you didn't affect the arrow's path by accidently jerking the bow by moving your arm. He usually didn't do this but instead shot arrows rapid fire, but his teammates weren't ready for that yet.

On his cue they all fired at the same time then set down the bows and walked over and kneeled down in front of the targets. Then they pulled out the arrows like he taught them – gripping as close to the arrow head as possible and making sure the arrow wasn't pointed at you so you didn't impale yourself when pulling it out- and returned to their positions in front the targets. Then they waited for his call and the repeated the action.

For the most part their efforts were feeble and as they continued he saw more and more of his teammates eyeing his perfect shots enviously. Only Raven was halfway decent. But he could have sworn he saw a bit of black energy guiding one of her arrows at the last moment. Feeling his gaze she turned around and glared back.

"What?" the dark girl bit out. Yup, there was definitely a bit of guilt in that one syllable.

"Yah know, they say that cheating gets you nowhere." He advised with a knowing smirk. The girl didn't respond but her aim was noticeably worse after that.

We were firing arrows for another fifteen minutes when Raven said we should move on. We were gonna try and appreciate Mas y Menos next. But how the heck do we do that? Run laps around the tower?

Turns out that's exactly what we are going to do. Oh joy. He didn't really like to sweat; it did a real number on his hair. But nonetheless we followed the twins lead as they dragged us outside. They then had us all line up on a line Mas had drew in the dirt with his foot.

"Esta será una carrera!" Mas cheered.

"El primero en terminar cinco vueltas no tendrá que ejecutar el siguiente ..." Menos paused to think before turning towards his brother.

"Diez?" Mas suggested.

"Sí, diez vueltas que el otro." Menos agreed. Aqualad translated for us, him being the only eastern titan that bothered to learn Spanish. We were all going to run five laps and whoever finished first didn't have to run the next ten laps. I really need to win, Speedy thought.

Out of the corner of his eye Speedy saw Raven slyly move back to stand next to the twins that were going to observe.

"Whatya think you're doing, princess?" Speedy teased.

"Nothing." Raven deadpan.

"You have to participate, sunshine, how else are you going to _truly_ appreciate Mas y Menos?" Speedy asked in mock confusion. The twins then turned and looked at the dark girl too, the same question in their eyes.

"This was after all," the archer continued innocently, "your idea." The girl looked down at the twins pleading face before walking back towards the starting line dejectedly. The archer followed after, a slight bounce in his step.

The twins grasped hands and disappeared for a second before returning with two rather official looking start flag. They then position them to the side of the titans and waved the flags vigorous with a chorus of "Ir!" and we all took off.

Fishboy immediately took lead. Looks like his morning laps in the pool were finally playing off, Speed thought enviously. Archery typically wasn't you didn't while running. But he was definitely doing better than Raven. They were only two laps in and she was several hundred yards behind them. She had her hands wrapped around her waist as if trying to ease cramps and she was visibly panting. It was like she had never run in her life before.

He spun around and started running backwards so he could smirk and make it very obvious that he found her attempts laughable. She growled in response but that only left her more breathless, and Speedy couldn't help it, he smile grew wider. In response she picked up the pace until she was only a few feet behind him. He took this as a cue to turn back around and focus on winning this thing. For the next two laps they continued in the same order with Fishboy leading and Raven struggling to keep up behind him. But somewhere in the middle of the fourth lap, Raven's already loud breathing got louder.

She then proceeded to let out a choked breath before collapsing on the spot. Speedy and Aqualad immediately turned back and went to help the gasping girl. She was even paler than usual and only half coherent.

"I-I'm real-ly so-rr-y" she choked out.

"If you can't do it its fine, we all have our-" Aqualad tried to assure before being interrupted.

"No n-not th-at," Raven sputtered, "I'm really sorry you guys lost." she added, the last bit sounding a lot more calm and less out of breath. Then before either boy could respond she jumped up and sprinted to the finish line. They both were still there kneeling for a moment before realizing what just happened and jumping up. But it was still too late; Raven had gotten too much of a head start and crossed the line several yards before the boys.

Speedy arrived to see a smug Raven having her hands help us by a cheering Mas y Menos. He couldn't believe it! He never thought Raven was of all things deceitful, and he was rather proud, but he wasn't going to admit that.

Both boys rushed to explain Raven's wrongdoings, neither wanting to have to run the next ten laps. Mas y Menos lowered Raven's arms and carefully look them all over before turning towards each other and nodding.

"Cuervo todavía gana, no es culpa nuestra que ustedes están fácilmente engañado" The twins announced in unison and raised Raven's hands and cheered again.

Speedy wasn't gonna lie he didn't enjoy the next ten laps and the smug look on Raven he saw standing next to the twins each lap didn't help.

When they were finished with their punishment Speedy and Aqualad walked over to the other titans, now completely drenched in sweat. Raven wrinkled her nose at the current state and took a step back.

"If you haven't already guessed it time to begin truly appreciating Aqualad." Raven announced. Fishboy smiled broadly and without any further instruction lead the titans in the direction of the indoor pool. Great, Speedy thought glumly. He didn't really want to be around the one thing that made Fishboy stronger than him. Water. Speedy followed the boy unhappily to the pool.

The pool itself was very large, had many lines, and was obviously for races. He was aware that Fishboy chose to very regular empty, clean, and refill the pool rather than add chlorine to his precious water. Speedy's theory is that he just didn't want the chlorine to turn his hair green.

"Well I guess we can just swim laps." Fishboy said. He then directed everyone to one of those block thing-ys that people dive off. After, of course, Mas y Menos went and quickly brought back everyone swim shorts but Aqualad lad whose uniform was practically a wet suit and Raven who simply unhooked her cloak and used her leotard as a one piece. It was then that he realized he had never seen the girl with her cloak completely off. And frankly he didn't understand why she ever wore it. I wasn't like she didn't have a nice figure, because she definitely did.

He was pulled from his thought when he noticed that everybody was taking position to dive in. Raven had taken one the matched Fishboy's perfectly without looking. At Fishboy's cue they all jumped in and began swimming. Speedy wasn't the best but tried to do that scoping motion he had seen Aqualad do a hundred times. I generated a giant splash but when he resurfaced for air he realized that his efforts were in vain. He had barely moved at all and Fishboy and Raven had just passed him on their way back. They moved in perfect unison and it wasn't like Aqualad was going slow for Raven sake, she was just a strong swimmer. He watched memorized as she spun around and kicked off the wall and continued slicing easily through the water as she passed him once again. Who would have thought the little bird likes water, Speedy mused.

An even wilder thought dawned on him. He was totally eating their dust! He sped up, trying to recreate the effortless strokes both of the titans were showcasing. But honestly he just spent the next half an hour trying not to look like he was doing the doggy paddle. And frankly having them circle him so often was making him dizzy. Eventually the combination of the twin's complaints and his wheedling convinced the two less than eager titans to resurface. He couldn't help but notice how content Raven looked even out of breath with wet hair plaster to her head and neck. Even if she did somehow managed to make it look good. But it was when she did the most awesome thing ever that he was truly impressed.

She phased through the floor but left all the water that clung to her to drop and fall to the spot on the ground before reappeared a few feet over. Thinking the idea was rather good Fishboy used his powers to pull the water off himself and deposit it into the pool. Mas y Menos held hands and ran to who knows where and back to thoroughly blow dry themselves. Speedy, still soaking wet, look expectantly at the titans. Raven cocked a questioning eyebrow.

"Well? Anyone? I could use some help." Speedy whined. It sounded childish but he was cold and wet and frankly would _appreciate_ his teammates better if they helped him out. Raven snort delicately before using her powers to throw a balled up towel at his head with enough face to knock him down. _Oh she had __**no**__ idea what she had just started. _

He stood up and smiled good-naturedly.

"So I guess the only person left to appreciate is Raven." Speedy said off-handedly, knowing the girl hadn't planned to include herself in the being appreciated part. The others nodded in agreement.

"There's no need. I'm only here temporarily." Raven said curtly.

"Oh but you wouldn't want to throw us off our game during our fights, would you?" Speedy reasoned. The overs nodded vigorously.

"What game?" The girl whispered bitterly under her breath. But Speedy caught it and smirked, throwing his arm around the girls shoulder. She shrugged off his waterlogged limb roughly.

"Fine, just stop touching me." She snapped. He leaned in close enough that his breath would warm her cheek. She tensed immediately but didn't pull away.

"I don't make promises I can't keep, princess." Speedy breathed.

A/N: Sorry about how I end chapters. I'm not good at finding good intervals for that sorta thing. I've read a lot of fics were Raven is scared of water or doesn't like water. I'm not sure if that's because it was mentioned in the series or comics but I think it's kinda silly. She lives on a tower. On an island. Surrounded by water. Plus she basically walks around in a bathing suit 24/7. So I made her like water, so deal. And also you seriously shouldn't quote me on any of the archery stuff. I learned that stuff from a combo of Wikipedia and my friend who does archery. But anyways, thanks for reading and I hope you review!


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

A/N: Woah. It's been a while, hasn't it? I never thought I go a few days without updating, almost three weeks is crazy. And this isn't even the longest chapter. Yes, I know, I am a horrible, mean person. But by all means please continue reading my story. PLEASE REVIEW! It makes me happy and I'll try to update sooner. Once again, sorry for typos. R&R

Disclaimer: No. I'm too eager to post this to try and think of something mildly witty to put here.

**Raven's POV**

She blinked and her eyes widened slightly at his sudden nearness. She jerked her head away from his rather reluctantly, and then sent him flying back a few feet for good measure. He wasn't thrown off balance the slightest and instead cocked a rather endearing eyebrow in her direction. She shook her head, trying to stop the course of her current thoughts. _I, of all people, refuse to drool over the resident womanizer, _Raven thought to herself.

The turned her back on the archer and instead turned towards the expectant faces of the other titans.

"So what are we gonna do?" Aqualad asked excitedly.

"Erm…I don't really know…" Raven mumbled. Given this wasn't her idea she definitely didn't plan for this.

"How about you help us get in touch with our inner empaths?" Speedy smirked. Raven merely rolled her eyes but Aqualad intervened.

"That's actually not a bad idea. Being able to read you opponent can help on the battle field." Aqualad reasoned. Raven gave him a hesitant look but the titans unanimously agreed that the decision wasn't up for negotiation, and before she knew it they were all gather in the living room, dried and back in uniform after grabbing something from the kitchen for a late lunch.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Speedy's POV**

"The first thing we should cover in lying. Mostly because it can be the hardest thing to notice" Raven began. Speedy tried to interject but Raven held up a pale hand as soon as his lips parted. Why start with hard stuff?

"But that's only if they're a really good liar." Raven explained, purple eyes sparkling with amusement. "Some people lie so much that their body doesn't react in the slightest. It has become second nature. But most people have tells that become rather obvious after you become aware of it. It helps if you've know that person for some time. Mind helping me demonstrate, Speedy?" Raven asked. He sensed that she wasn't so much as asking but order but he bobbed his head nonetheless.

"Ok I'm going to ask you a question. Lie to me." Raven ordered.

"Understood, princess." Speedy smirked. Raven didn't bother to correct him.

"What is your favorite color?" Raven asked, purple irises watching him carefully.

"Blue." Speedy replied smoothly.

"I'm going to ask you another question, answer truthfully this time."

"Sure."

"What did you have for dinner last night?"

"Pizza." Speedy stated. Raven bobbed her head slightly, thinking. A few strands of violet hair fell forward and the way the light bounced off the locks was mesmerizing….But Raven roughly pushed the offending locks back behind her ears and helping Speedy regain focus.

"Ok so tell me three things about yourself. Two truths and a lie, but don't tell me what the lie it, I'll guess." Raven instructed.

"I keep my hair short because I get split ends easily. I haven't read a book in like…two years. And I hate fan mail because I have to empty the mail box twice a day." Speedy replied confidently.

"The first one was a lie." Raven answered smoothly. Speedy's smile faltered a bit.

"How did you know?" He asked incredulously.

"Well you kept a very straight face. The only problem is lying is the only time you have a straight face." Raven replied calmly. Fishboy and the twins were stifling laughs behind her.

"Besides, I think the whole world knows it been a while since you've read a book and you seem like the type who would go to the ends of the earth for good hair." Raven added.

"So you admit I have awesome hair?" Speedy concluded. Raven apparently chose to ignore this. Instead the titans all spent the next hour trying to figure out each other's tells. Fishboy got oddly polite (Raven suggested that this might be Aqualad subconsciously trying to make up for lying by being nice), Mas broke out in a very noticeable cold sweat and Menos just couldn't lie so save his life. His lie you might ask? 'Menos no es realmente mi hermano gemelo, lo conocí durante la excavación para las almejas'. No idea who he was trying to fool. Raven on the other hand was a natural liar. No one could figure out which of her statements was a lie. She either didn't actually like the color black, used a spell to make herself an inch taller, or has never ridden a bike before.

Her face retained its perfect serene expression no matter what she said. She could probably tell them she had five rows of teeth and have them believe her, until she opened her mouth at least. It was kinda unnerving how well of a liar she was exceptionally consider she had said earlier that one had to lie a lot to become get so good at it. Nonetheless she insisted that she had a really obvious tell that put all of theirs to shame.

Speedy was still trying to notice anything, _like anything at all_, change in her expression when Raven ended "Raven appreciation time". Honestly he didn't mind staring at her and was kind of disappointed.

"So now that we have thoroughly appreciated each other. It's time to put what we have learned in this lesson and past ones into use." Raven began. "The next time we fight someone you cannot use you powers unless to help each other but only when it's absolutely necessary. Instead try to utilize some of the things you have learned today."

As if on cue the alarms started blaring obnoxiously, flashing shadows of red over Raven's face that was all in all a strange effect mixed with her light grey hued skin and Speedy found himself staring at the dark girl again.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Raven's POV**

Luckily all they had to deal with was a bunch of unruly drunks that were causing a scene downtown, hitting on women, trying to start fights and such. Honestly, Raven was kinda nervous about the no powers thing. Speedy, of course, brashly approached the group and tried to persuade them to go home. This did not tide over well with them and they all seemed to sober up pretty quick. But apparently they weren't sober enough to handle it like the adults they were and two of them started throwing punches. One of which clipped a not suspecting archer in the shoulder. Being the sheep that most people are, the remaining three joined in on the fight.

Sadly, only two of them were actually intoxicated enough to have their reflexes effected, and Speedy had those under control. Instead Raven got the off chance of having a very sober and angry guy charge her. Luckily the guy had probably never ever actual stepped foot in a defense class. He throw out a punch that that had most of his weight in it and Raven was able to side step and soft block the punch. From there she palmed his chin up and slipped him into a lose headlock before she got in close and slid a bent leg behind and between his legs. After that she only had to do was straighten her leg which throw him off balance and straighten the arm around his neck which worked as a blow to throw him down. Being the common brainless brute he was he didn't think of throwing a limb out to absorb the shock or even breath out and was left on the ground gasping, with the breath knocked out of him.

Scoffing at his wheezing form she turned away examined the state of the others. Aqualad was stuck in a fight with a slightly better fighter who could meet him block for punch, but he seemed to be doing fine, especially considering that Mas y Menos had joined in, throwing in a couple quick jabs into the mix. Speedy on the other hand was still trying to take on two opponents, even after leaving one of their friends a slumped pile on the ground a few feet away.

She ran in his direction, and one of the guys quickly turned his attention towards her giving her a creepy smile.

"Oh I don't know if I wanna hit a pretty girl like you." He said, eyeballing her in a way that made her want to take a shower or ten. Repulsed, she sent a right hook his direction he barely dodged in time.

"Aww, well you're no fun." He said his expression hardening. Before she could even react his fist collided with her jaw and pain exploded and she struggled not to wince. While she was still recovering he landed another blow to her sternum, knocking the air out of her and pushing her back at bit. This time she couldn't help but wince. She struggled to open her eyes against the pain, expecting other blow. When she did open he eyes another blow was flying towards her, this one aimed at her eye. But before it landed the man collapsed, revealed a concerned Speedy behind him. His own opponent was groaning on the ground a few feet away.

"Are you alright?" Speedy asked. She began to nod but quickly opened her mouth in an attempt to warn the archer, but it was too late. The man he had been fighting earlier had picked himself off the ground and landed a blow straight to his temple, knocking the boy unconscious instantly. He side stepped the two passed out bodies and saunter over to Raven confidently.

She had definitely had had enough. Turns out physical fighting can be just as exhausting as using her powers and she was tired, angry, and wanted to finish this. He threw a basic punch, probably expecting her to be an easy knock out. Jumping into action she stepped close, cramping him and striking down hard on his wrist and elbow as his punch flew past her. The nerve she struck at the wrist and just above the elbow caused his tensed muscles to give in and she gripped his arm tightly and ducked under it and reappeared behind him his arm twisted behind him painfully. Pushing enough pressure on the appendage that he involuntarily leaned forward, she whispered harshly in his ear.

"Haven't you ever heard it isn't honorable to attack someone when their back is turned to you?" she hissed, referring to his blow to Speedy.

Before he could reply she loosened her grip allowing him to untwist his arm before grabbing on again. She then swiftly pushed up on his triceps, which pushed his arm forward and kneed him in his shoulder, instantly dislocated his it. He fell to the ground holding his arm and howling in pain. Satisfied with her work she turned and regarded the titans. The guy Aqualad and the twins has been fighting was being hauled off in hand cuffs, considering the police had arrived. The other offenders had already been tossed in the back of a squad car. The crowd surrounding the commotion was growing in density and a few poor police officers had to try and corral all the gawking and screaming fangirls/boys.

Speedy on the other hand was still passed out on the ground, a group of paramedics swarming around him. Rolling her eyes at their attempts she pushed through the lot of them and kneeled down beside the unconscious boy.

She pushed back his red hair and gingerly rested his finger tips on the growing bump on his temple. His face was cold but she pushed away the concerned thought. _It's just because of the cold asphalt he's lying _on, Raven chided herself. Blue energy slowly started pulsing over the wound and a few of the paramedics that were watching her suspiciously gasped in surprise. Instantly a shadow of the pain pulsated over her own temple, a compromise that came with healing others along with the obvious weakened powers.

She couldn't tell the exact moment he came to because of the mask but within a few minutes his hand gently pushed hers away and he slowly sat up.

"Thanks. You didn't have to do that though, princess. It was just a bump" Speedy chased.

"A bump you got helping me out." Raven reminded, pretending she didn't notice the faint blush on this face. "Thank you."

"As a knight in shining armor it's my job to rescue princesses, so don't mention it." Speedy teased, back to his less serious persona.

"Whatever." Raven replied, smiling slightly. Both titans jumped to their feet and headed over to the remained titans who were explaining the whole thing to a police officer. After giving their statements and promising to stop by the station first thing the next morning to fill out the proper paper work to get those guys in jail the police drove off. It was getting pretty late, after all. They had spent more of the day then Raven realized 'appreciating' each other and the sun was starting to set.

"Anyone up for pizza?" She asked the titans who looked only slightly worse for wear.

A/N: Well? As you can see, I attempted another fight scene. I tried to use my martial arts fanatic powers to make this one better. Hope you can follow everything, it made sense to me but that might have just been because I wrote it….. Anyways, let me know what you think by clicking that pretty little button cleverly labeled 'Review' or by PMing me. Heck, send me any owl, as long as I get to hear what you think I'm happy. Thanks for reading!


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

A/N: Yes finally, the mean author updated. This is the part when I give you a viable excuse like I'm moving, busy with finals, building houses for the homeless, etc. But honestly I was being lazy. Sorry. But please review anyways because you can't possibly stay mad at me...hopefully….anyways, sorry for typos and R & R

Disclaimer: No.

Speedy's POV

By the time the titans had all arrived at the pizza place it was obvious news of their victory traveled. There was a sizable crowd gather outside the restaurant chattering excitedly amongst themselves. As well as the telltale flashes of reporter and paparazzi cameras. Speedy instinctually reached his hand up to brush any stray locks down and caught Raven's-who was giving him an obvious look of distain-eyes. He flashed one of his winning smiles back in response. _ What's wrong with looking you're best?,_ Speedy rationalized. Raven hardly needed such primping. Her soft purple tresses always seemed to flow in a perfectly neat cascade that framed her face perfectly….

As if sensing his gaze she lifted a hand smooth down her hair. Her pale ashen skin contrasted beautifully with her violet hair….

"Aren't you coming in?" Raven asked, looking at him oddly.

"Uh, oh, yeah!" He sputtered. Looking around he realized that everybody had already piled into the pizzeria, including most of the crowd of adoring fans. But Raven still stood there holding to door open and eyeing him skeptically. He sidestepped her and held the door open even wider.

"After you, princess." He teased, recovering smoothly. She rolled her eyes but entered before him. Smiling to himself, he followed her to the table the other titans had already claimed, ignoring the fan girls that squealed and asked for his autograph.

He sat down taking the only seat left that was conveniently next to Raven. Inconveniently the seat on his other side was Fishboy's.

"You managed to walk over here without flirting with a single girl. I'm impressed." Aqualad teased.

"Same goes for you. But that's pretty normal." Speedy retorted snidely.

The titans had finally came to an agreement for what to get on their pizza when one of the more persistent reporters finally managed to slip through the crowd of fans circling their table in awe. She then proceeded to shove her face in between Speedy and Raven holding her notepad and pencil close in position to write. She then turned her attention towards the dark girl and started peppering her with questions.

"What are you doing in Steel City? Were you kicked out of Teen Titans west? Did Robin and Starfire's love finally push your jealousy over the edge?" She spoke quickly. Raven ignored all her questions but the reporter still managed to take page after page of notes on what seemed like Raven's blank façade.

Something in Speedy's chest panged painfully at the third question. Did Raven like that bird brain? And why did he care? Nonetheless he found himself watching for any change in her expression that might give something away, just as eagerly as the reporter.

"Are you behind Bumblebee's disappearance? Maybe getting rid of the competition? Does one of the boys here hold your heart? Aqualad? No? How about Speedy?" The reporter continued. When she mentioned Speedy she gestured towards the archer who blew a kiss and winked at the empath right on cue. In response her face turned as red as wildfire and she struggled to keep a straight face before she settled on a decidedly forced glare. And somehow the reporter's hand moved even faster as she looked back and forth between the pair and jotted down notes.

Looking noticeably happy at getting something out of the girl she opened her mouth to spout out more questions but her lips were slammed back together by black energy. Her eyes widened and she immediately reached up and pawed at the black energy. Then another unseen force shoved her back through the crowd of face still tightly packed around the table of titans. The pushing mass of people sucked her in like a black hole.

The other titans observed Raven, who was examining her nails calmly, in proud amusement. Sensing their gaze she looked up a façade of innocence firmly in place.

"What?" She inquired, feigning innocence. At her expression the titans couldn't help it, they all busted out in laughter. Even Raven couldn't contain an honest to goodness smile, to which Speedy watched on in amazement. He could swear that her eyes glimmered like purple rubies for a moment as she angled her face down slightly and her pale hand loosely covered her parted lips. _She should really smile more often, _Speedy thought happily.

Their laughter only died when the pizza was set down in front of the ravenous teens and their attention was diverted.

Raven's POV xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

By the time the titans got back to the towers the last few strands of sunset were disappearing. Her favorite time of the day. She swiftly made her way up to the roof, declining the twin's invitation to play video games.

She opened the door to the roof slipping her shoes off right outside. She loved the feeling of the chilled concrete on her bare feet. She padded out to the edge and sat down. She took in the colors of the night settling in that mingled with those of the quickly fading sunset, sighing happily. After a few minutes the last of the beautiful sight had finally dispersed and she crossed her legs ready for a session of meditation. She hadn't had much time to do so lately, but oddly she had felt little repercussions, feeling instead calm. Nonetheless she needed, and rather enjoyed, this time of the day.

Maybe there was something extra calming in the air that night, but slowly the words of her mantra became more and more slurred and mumbled and before she knew it her eyes were closed, but not in concentration.

When she finally woke her eyes took in a totally different sight then the one they last saw. Instead of the dark blue night there was the sun cutting ruthlessly through white clouds. There also appeared to be second sun looking down at her. But more reddish with piercing green eyes brimming with mirth…..Speedy! She quickly sat up only to groan and lay back down on the ground when the blood rushed to her head. She tried again to sit up, this time more slowly, to the amusement of the archer that plopped down next to her.

"Do you always sleep on top of buildings, princess?" He asked delicately.

"What are you doing out here?" She grumbled impatiently.

"I like watching the sunrise, matches my hair." He added, smirking. "Like yours matches the night."

She wasn't quite sure if that was a compliment or not but she blushed nonetheless. Instead of replying she let the conversation lulled into a silence that was only slightly awkward.

But suddenly her view of the sky was obscured by gray paper held so close to her face that she went cross eyed trying to figure out what it was. Annoyed she swatted the paper away, only to have Speedy who was apparently holding the offending page shake it in her face. Sighing in defeat she snatched the paper and held it at the appropriate distance from her face. It was the Steel City newspaper. And the cover story? Megan Campbell's gripping interview with 'Steel City's newest Titan' aka Raven. _Must have been that nosey reporter_, Raven though angrily. She cover picture was of all the titans sitting around the table at the pizzeria laughing. Rolling her eyes she read the article out loud.

"_We all thought our titans were a tight knit bunch but apparently we all can make exceptions. For our beloved heroes that exception was the previously west titan Raven. None of the titans have released a public statement regarding their newest addition much like the situation with our previous titan Bumblebee who left the groups a mere two weeks ago. And just when we thought her abrupt departure was the last nail in the coffin for the titans, their newest recruit comes swooping to save the day. But what's her incentive? It seems this bird is trying to get closer to a certain nest housing our favorite red-haired archer. Their team pizza gathering was full of sly shows of affection between the two, including but not limited to winking and blown kisses. And this blossoming romance while striking the green monster in some definitely has its supporters. 13-year-old Kaylynn tells us 'I, like, totally ship them!' and 15-year-old Ambers adds 'Team Reedy forevas!' In fact her comment broke out a war of sorts between the couple's adoring fans. It seems that they just couldn't come to a conclusion between calling the super pairing 'Reedy' or 'Spaven'. All we can hope for now as that the couple comes forth with their newfound love and clears up the name mash up fiasco…..' _

"WHAT?!" Raven screeched, now definitely fully awake. She gathered black energy in her hands ready to blast a certain archer into another dimension. But when she turned to where he previously stood she was met with the blur of red hair as he ran out and slammed the door closed behind him, laughing all the while.

_He is soo dead,_ She seethed as she walked calmly toward the door to find the archer. And possibly kill him.


End file.
